How to ID a Bullet

From: KQED
Series: QUEST
Length: 05:05

What if every bullet could tell you who fired it? Read the full description.

Piece Audio

Playing: How to ID a Bullet
From: KQED

Bulletmicrostamping_small For years, police and victims families have looked for a way to make bullets talk. A new technology called bullet microstamping aims to do just that -- imprint a unique, traceable code on each bullet a gun shoots. California and New York are both considering making it law. But does the technology work? This piece presents tough questions. When it comes to unsolved gun crimes, police detectives need all the help they can get -- but how much should states spend on a promising, but unsure technology?

Also in the QUEST series

Coho Survival (05:10)
From: KQED

Can we save Coho salmon from "the vortex of extinction?"

Condor Rescue (04:57)
From: KQED

A condor refuge recovers after a wildfire, and volunteers prepare for a dramatic release.

Why Don't Kids Learn Science Anymore? (04:39)
From: KQED

Despite high-tech hubs like Silicon Valley, California's science literacy is in steep decline.

Hayward Fault (04:47)
From: KQED

The big quake is coming

Waiting for California's High Speed Rail (08:08)
From: KQED

Getting from San Francisco to LA in two-and-a-half hours -- and a $10 billion ticket price

Wildlife CSI (04:54)
From: KQED

Using DNA to catch wildlife poachers

Sea Lion Rescue (05:03)
From: KQED

A mysterious bacterial infection is sickening the West Coast's sea lions.

Drugs in the Drinking Water (05:00)
From: KQED

Many of us drink tiny doses of drugs like ibuprofen and birth control pills with each glass of tap. Should we care?

DIY Green Building (04:59)
From: KQED

On the frontiers of green building

Rethinking Air Conditioning (05:30)
From: KQED

Why your central AC unit sucks way more juice than it should

Piece Description

For years, police and victims families have looked for a way to make bullets talk. A new technology called bullet microstamping aims to do just that -- imprint a unique, traceable code on each bullet a gun shoots. California and New York are both considering making it law. But does the technology work? This piece presents tough questions. When it comes to unsolved gun crimes, police detectives need all the help they can get -- but how much should states spend on a promising, but unsure technology?

Broadcast History

Aired twice locally on KQED and KQEI, during B segment of Morning Edition, 6/20/08

Transcript

It was January 10, 2001. Laura Wilcox, a sophomore at Haverford College home on Christmas break, was filling in at a mental health clinic in rural Nevada City.

WILCOX She was working at the front desk that day as a receptionist?

That?s Laura's mother, Amanda Wilcox.

And a client from the clinic walked in with a semiautomatic handgun and shot her four times at point blank range. [CUT EXTRA WORDS HERE] He left three people dead, including our dear Laura, and three severely injured.

Laura's death turned Amanda and her husband Nick into gun control activists. In 2007 they had their first victory: California passed a bullet microstamping law. Starting in 2010, every new model of handgun sold in the state will be designed to leave a unique code on each bullet it fires. Wilcox says this will add critical new evidence.

WILCOX: In our case, we were lucky. He confessed his c...
Read the full transcript

Timing and Cues

SUGGESTED HOST INTRO:
For years, police and victims families have looked for a way to make bullets talk. A new technology called ??bullet microstamping?? aims to do just that -- imprint a unique, traceable code on each bullet a gun shoots. California and New York are both considering making it law. But does the technology work? From KQED in San Francisco, AMy Standen reports.